The whaling industry in Nantucket boomed by the 1740s requiring an aid to navigation to guide mariners around Brant Point, an area through which all vessels passed as they entered the island's inner harbor. Established in 1746, the Brant Point Light was the second lighthouse established in colonial America. It has since been moved and rebuilt more times than any other lighthouse in the Nation. The present lighthouse is the ninth one built on Brant Point. A fire destroyed the original wooden lighthouse in 1757, and the second wooden lighthouse was destroyed during a storm in 1774. The third lighthouse burned in 1783 and the fourth lighthouse, which was no more than a lantern hoisted up between two spars, burned in 1786. The fifth lighthouse lasted only two years before it was demolished by a storm. Built by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1788, the sixth lighthouse was ceded to the Federal government in 1795. A new light station consisting of a tower rising from the roof of the keeper's dwelling replaced that built by the Commonwealth in 1825. In 1856, the Lighthouse Board constructed the eighth light station, a 47-foot tall brick tower topped with a fourth-order Fresnel lens and attached to a brick keeper's dwelling. Discontinued in 1900 due to the shifting channel, the structure is still standing, but the lantern has been removed.

The current 26-foot tall, cylindrical, wood tower topped with a fifth-order Fresnel lens was built as a replacement in 1901, 596 feet east of the previous station. A long, elevated, wooden walkway runs over the sandy beach to a small, enclosed entryway, which provides access to the tower. Automated in 1965, the 1901 light tower continues to operate as an active aid to navigation today. In 1975, the tower was included in the National Historic Landmark boundaries for the Nantucket Historic District and was later listed individually in the National Register of Historic Places.

Brant Point Light Station is located at the water's edge, off Easton St. on the north side of Nantucket Island. The lighthouse rests at the end of a spit of sand, which forms the west side of the entrance to Nantucket Harbor. Owned by the U.S. Coast Guard, Brant Point Light is an active aid to navigation and is closed to the public. The grounds are open to the public.